membered, in other cases a sequence of reasoning should be remembered. Facts should be presented in logical and chronological order. As a rule, it is better to learn in the order in which it is intended to recall. When learning, it is well to avoid coming in contact with or attending to objectionable stimulus. Difficult memory work should be taken at such times as the nervous system functions at its best. In very difficult cases it is well to receive the stimulus through the sensory avenue of highest natural efficiency, but individuals who are of weak visual, auditory, or motor power, should remedy the defect by definite exercise. Power to memorize in one subject of study does not necessarily mean power to memorize in another subject. In the case of a weak power of memory, for example, a difficulty in remembering prose, the power can be strengthened by setting to work systematically to memorize a small amount each day and by increasing the amount. In Reception the primary presentation should be properly apperceived. The attention should be focussed upon the greatest difficulty and the subject should be clearly understood. The entire attention should be directed upon the thing to be learned. The impression should be clear and definite, and the images should be such as will furnish effective instruments in the reconstruction of future experience. One deep impression is more lasting than a superficial impression repeated many times. Good health favors retention. There should be frequent reviews of important facts, but repetition may be conducted in such a mechanical way as to be harmful. It is well to form a habit of recalling vigorously, methodically and persistently. It is better to be able to recall without the aid of explicit association. When difficulty arises, an appeal should be made to association, and an association which has worked well once in recalling a fact should be used again. Memory may receive too much attention. UNIV. OF CHAPTER VIII Imagination I. DEFINITION: Compare the following types of Imagination: (b) He imagines that he is being burned in a fire. (d) He builds "castles in the air." (e) Coriolanus makes the following salutation to his wife: "Chaste as the icicle curded by the frost from purest snow That hangs on Diana's temple, Dear Valeria." (f) Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have taken Julius Cæsar as his ideal. In which of these examples is the Imagination the most mechanical? In which is it most constructive? How does an imagined object differ from a perceived or a remembered one? Could you draw a picture of an imagined object, e.g., a centaur ? Show that Imagination resembles Perception and Memory in that it has for its product an idea of a particular individual. Show that it differs from them in that it is not restricted as regards space and time relations, but can be assigned to such place and time as the mind determines. Show where dissociation and new association occur in the foregoing examples. Why may Imagination be said to be more ideal than Memory? In Memory do we remember objects or incidents exactly as they occurred in the original presentation? Why may Memory be termed Reproductive Imagination ? Constructive Imagination is the process by which we recall past ideas and form them into new combinations unlike any which have ever come within our experience. Show that the elements of Constructive Imagination are derived from Perception and Memory. Show that Constructive Imagination depends upon Memory for its content but not for its form. Show how this is illustrated by "Gulliver's Travels," or "Alice in Wonderland," or by the poetic fancy of trees possessing the power of speech. The author of "Flat Land has described a species of beings possessing but two dimensions in space, and other intelligences possessing bodies of four dimensions. Can you imagine space containing four dimensions? Examine the distinction between what may be called Passive Imagination (such as revery or day-dreaming) in which there is little or no mental supervision, and Active Imagination (as in artistic or scientific work), in which there is conscious choice in the selection of the material, and of the form in which it is reconstructed. Show that Passive Imagination has no conscious end in view, but that in Active Imagination there is an end or aim which determines the choice of both the content and the form of construction. Which is the more imaginative occupation, making an original painting, or sawing wood? Why? In general, what is the end in view, (a) In artistic production? (b) In scientific work? Experiments: 1. Draw a picture of some scene with which you were well acquainted in childhood. 2 Draw a representation of a landscape which you have never seen, but of which you have a written description. 3. Construct a picture purely from imagination. 4. Try to recall the elements of this picture from your past experience. 5. Make a drawing of an animal which, so far as you know, never existed. Does your originality in this exercise extend to more than the mere combination of the different parts? 6. Draw a picture of a fairy, bogy, dryad, nymph or mermaid. Whence did you derive the conception you have thus individualized? 7. Analyze your favorite day-dream or air-castle. Did anyone else ever imagine anything just like it? Where did you find the material for your reconstruction? 8. Write an essay embodying your ideal of a perfect character, intellectual, emotional, religious, etc. Consider which of these characteristics have been furnished by any of your friends, or by biography, or by the fictitious personages of literature. How is your own character affected by the contemplation of such an ideal? 9. Describe an ideal state of Society, after the manner of Moore's Utopia, or Bellamy's Looking Backward. Do you agree perfectly with any such description you have ever read? |